It's a Deal
by Shiki105
Summary: Kanda reminisces on the not-too-distant-past about a friend he thought he'd lost forever. Lavi Kanda FRIENDSHIP ONLY! So, don't expect shounen-ai. Rated T for Kanda's language


This is NOT a tragedy, and neither does it contain yaoi :) written for LaviYu Day and I hope you all enjoy, yo!!!

Disclaimer: I don't own DGM

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"Baka."  
Kanda sighed as he squatted down before the grave.

"I really hate you, you know."

He stared at the name upon the tombstone, his gaze distant…looking back into the not-too-distant past.

"All right, this is it." Lavi grinned, taking a firm hold of his extended hammer as he gazed towards the hordes of Akuma, from Level 1 through to 4, gathering in the distance and making their way forward, and beyond them came the remains of the Noah family, and finally the Earl.

"Yeah, this is it." Lenalee echoed, her melancholy undisguised as she gazed around her gathered companions, her family. It was foolish to think even for a second that they would come out of this without heavy casualties. This was the grand finale, the final showdown, the ultimate confrontation with the enemy. Years and years of cutting away bit by bit at the opposition had led to this moment; today, they would determine the victor in the war against the Millennium Earl.

"Are we ready?" Allen said, his eyes fixed on his opponents. His gaze was harsh, holding not one bit of the child-like quality that they'd shown when he'd first joined the Order. If he still had any thoughts about saving the soul of the Akuma, it wasn't reflected in his grey eyes. But the years had not been kind; he knew from experience that there was no place for mercy on a bloody battlefield.

"Tch, if we're not ready, there isn't really any point being here," Kanda replied. From the corner of his eye, he snuck a glance at Lavi. He was on Lavi's blind side but the redhead turned to gaze back. _Are you sure you want to be here?_ Kanda wanted to ask. _What if you die? You're the only successor of the Bookman clan_.

Lavi smiled and, releasing one of his hands from his hammer, he extended it towards Kanda. "I won't die."

Kanda was surprised. _Can he read my mind?!_

Lavi chuckled. "If you're wondering whether I can read your mind; I really can't. I just know you is all." His hand hovered in the space between himself and Kanda. "Here, I'll make a deal with you; if I die, you can have that black sweater I bought last week."

Kanda drew back, not expecting something like that in the least. "Wh-what's with that?!"

Lavi grinned. "I know you like it." He suddenly sighed theatrically. "But you know, I _really_ like it too and I _really_ don't want you to have it so I have to stay alive and make sure you don't steal it."

Kanda stared at the redhead owlishly for a few seconds, until he turned away and snickered. "You're absurd."

"C'mon, is it a deal?"

Still chuckling quietly, Kanda turned back and took Lavi's hand in his, with his index finger and thumb circling around Lavi's thumb. "All right, it's a deal."

"I'm really gonna take that sweater, you know." Kanda sighed, coming back to the present. "Stupid rabbit." He placed down the bunch of flowers that he'd bought. "I'll never forgive you for making me carry those. Tch, probably looked like I was gonna give em to my nonexistent girlfriend or something."

He could imagine what kind of response he'd have gotten if Lavi were here now. He'd laugh and say "aw, Yu-chan, I didn't know you felt that way about me…but, sorry, I'm don't swing that way." And then Kanda would beat him up for coming out with such stupid things. But, all the same, he'd have preferred that the stupid idiot was still alive.

_Tch, and he sounded so sure of himself too_, he thought. "'I won't die', huh?"

Everyone died at some point, Kanda knew that. And that idiot probably would have lived if it hadn't been for Kanda, which was what made him feel even sadder and at a loss. "Really, even if it had hit me, I would have lived. Ah, I really hate you! Tryna act all heroic and all! Stupid…" but his sudden burst of anger drained away as quickly as it had come.

He was fighting two Level Threes in front of him and, from behind, a Level Four chose to attack. He realised a second too late that he was about to get hit with an Akuma bullet but before he could even think of trying to move out of the way, he was roughly pushed to the side. Wincing as his hands took the impact of his fall and the skin of his palms burned with frictional heat, he looked back. His eyes went wide at what he saw. Lavi had taken the bullet and was falling. "LAVI!"

But he couldn't go to his friend because the Level Four and the two Level Threes from before were gaining on him. So he used that life-draining move, the strongest in his arsenal of attacks so far, to finish his opponents. Infused with his anger and his worry, he was done with his opponents in minutes.

But his onslaught against the Akuma had driven him back and he didn't know the exact place where Lavi had fallen…for a moment, Kanda entertained the thought that his best friend had gotten away, to perhaps get help. But the evidence of the Akuma blood virus was all over the place. He was even stepping in a puddle of black ash. Wh-what if this one that he was placing his foot in was all that remained of Lavi? He jerked his foot out of the pile, disgusted with himself and suddenly feeling empty.

That person was gone. That person that had come to mean a great deal to Kanda was gone.

But he couldn't afford to grieve now. He turned to face more Akuma, his grey eyes taking on a vacant expression. _I'll make these bastards pay. I will_. He thought with conviction. But beneath that blank face ran a rage so violent that he could have no hope of controlling it. _They _will_ pay_.

And that had been the awakening of Mugen's final form.

He'd been sitting here for a few minutes now, allowing himself to reminisce on those bygone times when he'd seen that idiotic redhead every day, almost too much. He wasn't allowed to reminisce in the Black Order, because back there, everyone was doing their best to make the place more cheerful after all the friends and "family" that they'd lost and he couldn't bring down those efforts so shamelessly. He wasn't the only one who'd lost someone important. And Lavi had meant something to a lot people.

The sun sank lower into the horizon. Kanda heaved a sigh and figured he'd head back now. He stood up and dusted himself off. It felt strange being outside like this, even though it was just the Black Order's own cemetery in HQ grounds (they had no problem burying those people who had bodies to be buried, since the Earl wasn't around to manufacture more Akuma) without his Exorcist uniform on, but he would never get to wear it again…at least, not for official purposes.

He cast another glance back at the gravestone before he turned to go.

_Here Lies Lavi_

_Beloved Friend_

_18XX – 18XX_

He stopped dead when he saw what was in front of him. "L-La…La…?" he couldn't get the name out.

Lavi was standing not three feet away from Kanda. His hands were joined behind his head and he was dressed in his usual casual garb with his red hair pulled back by his favourite bandanna. "What're you stuttering for, Yu?" he said. He was trying to be like his usual self but he was failing miserably, because the wide grin that he usually wore was dimmed down to a small smile. His one green eye was…soft and glazed over, as if he was going to start crying.

After a few seconds of opening and closing his mouth like a fish, Kanda gave up trying to speak and instead walked towards his friend. He took in a deep breath and, without letting his sudden, almost overwhelming relief get in the way, he said, "YOU IDIOT!! WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN?! I WAS WORRIED SICK!"

Lavi nearly fell over from the depth of the sudden noise. "Wh-whoa…chill, Yu, chill…I'm sorry."

Kanda folded his arms across his chest and harrumphed. "Huh. I knew you were alive anyway."

Lavi snorted. "Liar. If you knew that then what're you doin out here? I heard from Lenalee that you come out here every day. I didn't know you'd miss me so much, Yu! And you even bought me flowers! That's, like, the only thing I've ever received from you! Ever!" the enthusiasm drained away as he fixed Kanda with a blank look, "and only because you thought I was dead. You're so mean, Yu-chan!"

"Shut up! I thought you were dead! I'll kill you and bury you now so the flowers don't go to waste!"

"Wha…?! Oh, that's just nasty! I finally see you after two months and this is how you greet me?!"

Kanda sighed. "If you were alive, why didn't you come back sooner? Where were you?"

Lavi shrugged. "Recuperating. Damn, that fever was somethin else."

Kanda frowned. "But…you got hit by a bullet, right? You should have gotten the Akuma virus…and you should have turned into ash…that's why I couldn't find your body."

Lavi chuckled. "Silly Yu. Technology's advanced a bit since those times; the Akuma virus means nothing anymore."

The black-haired man's eyes were wide. "Y-you…there's a cure…for the Akuma virus? Since when?"

The redhead suddenly looked sombre as he gazed off to the side, stuffing his hands into the pockets of his pants. "It's…not known to the public. Gramps said some Bookman clan "contacts" or something had come up with it not too long ago. They really should have let that knowledge be known to everybody but…they only came up with it so that those who do what we do never meet an end like that…it was all for Bookmen." The stern set of his brow and the scowl curling the corners of his mouth were sure indications that he felt angry at this.

Kanda's brows pulled together thoughtfully. "So, if you had this cure and you think everybody should have had it, why didn't you give yours to Komui?"

"It was too late."

"How?"

Lavi sighed. "I didn't know about this until we were sent to the battlefield. And by then it was too late. And gramps slipped some of the stuff in my pocket. Let me tell you, that shit is nasty; it burns like hell! I think I would have preferred getting turned to ash instead."

Kanda heaved a sigh too. "So, where were you these past couple months?"

Lavi shrugged. "Found an empty building. Hid out and treated my wounds. Actually, I only came back when I knew for sure that gramps was gone."

The old Bookman had only left a few days ago, having completed his records and fulfilled the goal he'd set when he'd first come to HQ. He'd bid everyone a sombre goodbye. Since the final battle, he'd been trying so very hard not to let his sadness at his pupil's death show but he'd failed. No one had ever broached the subject of Lavi's death. Actually, nobody talked of anybody grievingly under the roof of the Black Order HQ now, because everyone was trying so hard to overcome the sorrows that the war had brought about. The mourning period was long over.

Kanda's frown this time was one of puzzlement. "Wh-what? Why'd you do that? And wouldn't the old man have known that you might use the cure or whatever? This doesn't make sense."

Lavi's eye drifted to the ground and stayed there as he went to stand in front of his grave. He knelt down to pick up the bundle of colourful flowers that Kanda had left there. "Hey, who had this lame gravestone inscription put on here?" he asked, reading the words under his name.

A tick mark appeared on Kanda's forehead. "Me."

Lavi bolted up and turned around, surprised. But after a second or two, he bent over again with a hand clamped over his mouth. "Pfft! Seriously?! No way!"

"Sh-shut up!" Kanda flushed crimson with embarrassment. "I couldn't think of anything else!" But he didn't feel angry enough to hit the redhead like he usually would. The relief was still flooding his system. That idiot was really alive! Kanda should have known! Lavi wasn't one to go down so easily…because he was an excellent Exorcist and also because he was…Lavi. That was all there was to it.

"So, answer my question." Kanda prompted when Lavi had regained some self-control. "Why'd you wait for Bookman to leave? And since he was the one to give the cure to you anyway, wouldn't he have figured you'd use it?"

Lavi shook his head. "Three weeks is about how long it takes for the cure to work off the fever. Gramps had me promise that if I survived and left the battlefield, I'd return within the month. He said if it stretched on longer than that, he'd leave."

"But he waited anyway. _Two_ months."

Lavi sighed sadly. "I know. I hated to deceive him like that but…I didn't want to go with him…I didn't want to leave here…I…don't want that lifestyle." His head was turned to the floor and his gaze was a conflicted one.

Kanda stared at his friend with a distrustful gaze. "You're going to regret this decision you made, you know."

"I won't."

"Yes you will. I know you will. You're a fool."

Lavi chuckled. "Eh heh, maybe I am."

"Don't gimme "eh heh"! Fuckin idiot! There's no 'maybe' about it!" Kanda really couldn't believe this was happening. First he found out that the friend he'd come to value more than anything (which was something he would never, ever admit to even if he was to be tortured) who he'd believed to be dead was actually alive and now this friend was telling him that he was forsaking the dream he'd been chasing after his whole life. This was so stupid! Kanda wanted to really kill the idiot for…for _being_ an idiot!

Lavi backed away. "W-will you please stop growling? Makes me think you're going to rip me apart…"

"You don't wanna know how much I wanna kill you right now." Kanda snarled, taking a step towards the redhead.

Lavi put his hands out as he took an involuntary step back. "I'm sorry! Really!" He sighed, turning serious again, "I know there are gonna be times when I'll wish that I'd gone after Gramps but…seriously, if I had to choose between keeping my friends along with my humanity or becoming the next Bookman and getting rid of my emotions, I'd choose my friends and my humanity any day." He smiled, though it was a somewhat morose gesture.

Kanda huffed and turned around. "Whatever. You're still an idiot." He began to walk towards the Black Order building.

"Aw, I know you love me, Yu-chan!"

"Shut up! Who'd do that?!"

"Oh, the flowers are _so_ pretty!"

"Fuck off! If I'd known you were still alive, I would have spent my money buying a meal in town instead of wasting it on those stinking things!"

"They're not stinky! They smell nice!" Lavi protested. He smiled suddenly, with his nose still buried in the bouquet. "Thanks, Yu."

Kanda harrumphed and turned his head away. "Stupid rabbit."

"Hey, hey, you know, about that sweater?"

Kanda's ears perked up with interest. It had been two months but he'd not wanted to go into the room Lavi had frequented…even if he really did like that sweater that Lavi had bought. "What about it?"

Lavi grinned. "You can't have it!"

A tick mark appeared on Kanda's cheek. "If you're going to say something like that, don't open that stupid mouth of yours."

Lavi chuckled as he put his arm around Kanda's shoulder. "Only kidding! Hey, my birthday's coming up so you can have the one I've got and then buy me a new one, how about it?"

"Fuck off. I might as well just buy myself a new one. And lemme go."

"Ah, it's been two months! Don't be so cold! I missed ya, Yu!"

"H-hey, enough!" Kanda wrenched himself out of Lavi's sudden bone-crushing hug and stomped off. "I'll kill you if you do that again!"

"Haha, you haven't changed a bit!"

"Stop talking as if it's been years! Two months isn't that long!"

Lavi put a hand over his heart and pulled on his best heart-broken expression. "B-but…my friend! I missed you so much!"

Kanda smacked his face against his palm. He'd almost fallen for that one. What an idiot. And to think he'd only been grieving about this idiot just minutes before! He was ashamed of himself.

Well…not really. He couldn't deny how…how _happy_ he was at that moment. He hadn't felt like this in a long time. That most trusted friend, that one person who's existence he cherished above all others, was here, safe and sound and being his usual cheery self. Kanda was glad.

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Hope you liked it ^_^


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